Chapter Text
“Dream?” Technos voice bounced off the big room, echoing back at him.
Nothing.
“Dream? Where are you?” Techno called out again, voice growing a little more stressed.
Well, third time’s the charm.
“Dream? Where did you go? Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
That certainly was disappointing.
And not only that.
All those times Phil had stated that as fact, certain in his words. To think that Technos best friend was a liar.
The thought hurt to even finish.
That he would utter such untrue words without even flecks of guilt. Eyes never showing the great lie he was spinning. An innocent smile deceiving everyone who even looked at him.
None ever even thinking to question the words coming out of his mouth
It was almost too much to bear.
Why world, why?
Why are we here, just to suffer?
Techno sighed with great pain. Tucking this new great woe away in his mind, to be examined another day with all the anguish it would bring.
For now, he had to find Dream.
So, Dream couldn’t hear him, that much was for certain. What could be the possible reasons for that?
Well, first of all, he could be dead in a ditch somewhere. That certainly would make it hard to hear a certain worried somebody.
If not that, he could be held hostage by a vicious group of bandits. Watching his every move, just waiting for an excuse.
Maybe he was outside this very moment, battling a terrifying monster. Too busy trying to survive another second to even hear Technos voice calling for him.
Or he was currently preforming his duty as a priest tending to the temple, simply too far away to hear.
Techno thought about it. The last one idea certainly was a ridiculous one, but checking for the monster Dream was currently battling would be easy enough.
And a lot less somber that the other two.
Kristin was lovely, but if Techno asked Lady Death yet another time if somebody very alive were dead, she would give him a sad look and he would get another one of those lectures about pessimism from Phil.
Apparently thinking the people you love die when you don’t see them for a while isn’t strategically cutting your losses and is really unhealthy.
Well, happy to see you alive too Phil.
That alone made it worth doing his research before asking anyone worth it.
It wasn’t like Techno was worried about Dream or anything.
For a mortal, he was shockingly competent. Even if that was nothing compared to the skills and abilities of the gods.
What was he thinking, Dream would be fine. He was for sure winning the battle against the monster.
It just wouldn’t hurt to check on him to make sure the tide didn’t turn was all.
The hallway leading towards the individual rooms for the gods was equally as white as the room Techno had just left. The only difference was that here would there occasionally be beautiful designs of gold scattered along the walls.
Who built this place? And had they really so little joy in their life that gold-designs were to only signs of life allowed to enter their creation?
What happened to all the color? Or even the concept of color really?
Next time Techno visited to pick up offerings he would have words. Pluss some paint. Preferably a lot of it.
A voice ground all of his thought to a halt.
“There you are. I was wondering where you had disappeared of to.” Dream said.
“Dream?” Technos voice sounded a little too relived to pass for just regular concern, he blinked twice to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Dream was still there.
Thank the gods.
He was alive. He was okay. Techno didn’t need to ask Kristin if he lost a new friend in the week he met him.
Didn’t have to cheat death for him with the help of her either.
This made his life so much easier.
He sighed of relief.
“Yes? Are you ok, Techno?” Dreams voice sounded confused, but it was getting more concerned by the second.
“Yeah, all good here. Just looking for you is all.” Techno laughed suspiciously at the end. “You know how it goes.”
“Sure” Dream voice sounded a little suspicious, clearly not buying Technos amazing explanation.
“So, what are you doing here? Nothing suspicious, right?”
Dream sighed. “I work here. Or have you forgotten that as well? Did you hit you head or something?”
Woops.
That did not work at all.
What did Phil say to do in such situations? Be honest. Not going to happen. Why did he have to be such a sap?
Tommys advice was usually to be ignored, enacted at your own peril. However, Techno remembers him saying to fain an injury if ever caught in a lie.
Apparently, it worked nine out of ten times.
Not that Tommy could be trusted to tell the truth at all, but better that then standing there like a fool.
Techno tried stumbling to pretend he had accidently walked into one of the bright walls, unable to make it out in all the white.
However, in doing so, Techno miscalculated the distance to the nearest wall and smacked right into it.
Damn you Blood Good and forgetting how to interact with the mortal world in a body.
“Are you ok!?” Dream voice sounding worried as he helped Techno sit down in the hallway.
It wasn’t like the wall had hurt him, or anything (one of the perks of immortality) but he was feeling slightly dizzy.
“Ah” Dream said, clearly having a revelation. Of what, Techno had no idea. “You are having one of your episodes, aren’t you? Thats why you are acting so strange and like you suddenly lost all ability to behave like a human.”
“Ehhhhh” Techno said, eloquent as always.
Well, that was a low blow. Did Dream really think that Techno was doing that horrible? He thought he was doing all right, all things considered.
“Just lean you head on the wall, and I will make sure that you don’t fall and hurt yourself.” Dreams voice was calm, but gentle.
Something Techno would surely appreciate if he was about to pass out, but since all he could feel was a growing sense of embarrassment, it didn’t really work.
For a second, Techno thought about faking an “episode” so he didn’t have to explain that it was in fact not what was happening.
It sounded really tempting.
With the added bonus of a nap and everything.
Why did the path of honesty have to be such a gruelling one? Could nothing in life ever be easy?
Techno drew a long breath, working up the courage for the awkward conversation that was going to happen.
“I’m not passing out Dream.” Well, that was a start. Now to explain what was happening. “I’m just”
Good good, now to finish the sentence.
Dreams shoulders deflated in relief. “That good to hear. What is happening then?”
“I’m just” Techno tried again, looking for any verbs to popp into his mind. Any at all. “feeling a bit overwhelmed is all.”
There, that was it.
“The temple is really big, really easy to get lost in, you know?”
There, a plausible explanation for his strange behaviour. Dream didn’t need to know it was happening from shear relief and not from having gotten lost in what had to be a maze of rooms.
All in white probably.
Because the architect hated joy and all life along with it. If Phil ever met them, they would have words.
“Ah, I see how it is. The rooms dedicated to the specific gods can really overwhelming, especially if you are used to something simpler. It almost feels like they are in the room with you.”
Yeah that made— wait what?
What was Dream talking about?
“Ehe” Techno tried, the sounds not sounding much like anything, but were such that they could charitably be taken as agreement.
Dream took it as a cue to continue anyways. “Can you imagine that, being in the same room as a god? Standing in their divine presence. Just taking that in. That must be the most overwhelming feeling in the world. Like you are a tiny ant in a big world.”
“Yeah” Techno answered intelligently, before taking in Dreams words.
Then he was suddenly glad for all those times Tommy had tried to annoy him for attention, and Techno got really good at suppressing his reactions, so they became invisible.
Because. That.
Well. Chances were that if Dream ever met a god, he would mainly feel comradery and a strong need to protect them.
But if Techno told him that, Dream would think he was insane.
Actually, clinically insane.
Unforchunatly, the same went for if Techno just collapsed from laughter with no explanation.
Dream tolerated much, but complete insanity might just fall a little far, even for him.
Do not laugh, do not laugh. Remember your training. Imagine Tommys face as he gets more and more frustrated. Envision it. Manifest it. You can do this.
“Who were you even praying to?” Dream asked, unaware of Technos inner battle.
Do not laugh. Do not laugh.
With all his brainpower going to his current Sisyphean task, the question caught Techno of guard.
“Huh? Who was I praying to? Like which god, praying to?” he rambled.
It was by far one of the worst stall Techno had ever done. Luckily Dream seemed equally as confused, which probably was the only reason it worked.
“Yes? When I was praying to my god, you seemed to just up and vanish. I just assumed you had left to give me my privacy and find one of the other gods to pray to.”
That was not even close to what had happened, but Techno would rather kill himself than ever explain that, so it would do.
Not that Phil would ever let him.
But if Phil appeared, Techno no longer had to explain it because Phil would be on it, so that really didn’t count.
So, Dreams explanation it was.
Only one problem, which god was Techno supposedly praying to?
Tommy was his family, and Phoenix was the god of the sun, a popular god, however Tommy would literally never shut up about it ever again.
It was inviting torture into his life, something that Techno no longer had any habit of doing.
It was a hard no.
Ranboo was a sweet kid and needed the ego-boost, but the god of memory isn’t exactly a common god. Chances were low he even was mentioned in the temple.
The same went for Tubbo, especially since he was similar to Tommy in the not needing any more ego, for Technos own sanity.
Kristin was kind, but worshiping the Goddess of Death was often considered quite grim, even when it was Phils go to for when he was pretending to be mortal.
Like really. How much of a sap was he?
Techno didn’t think it was possible to be more married or in love than him.
Quackity, the god of gambling, was out before Techno even finished the thought. What a waste of energy and time. Techno had no idea what Karl saw in him.
Karl was out as well; the god of time was nice but forgetful. He often forgot to visit the mortal world in centuries.
Chances where he was barely mentioned anywhere, let alone this specific temple.
Techno himself was out too. Mainly for the amount of ridicule coming his way if anybody ever found out that he “worshiped” himself. Talk about ego.
The fact that The Blood God was considered a cruel and sometimes evil god didn’t really help either.
Niki was a good friend and would only slightly bully him for picking her. She was an acceptable god to worship.
Unfortunately, she was out for similar reasons to Kristin. Too much of a vibe clash for a fighter to worship the god of magic, the unknown and the sea.
Techno would leave that to the real witches instead. They were much scarier than him anyways.
There would be less questions that way.
Which meant that there was only one option left.
Phil.
The god of life.
Maybe the most popular god that had ever existed.
Who was most commonly known as Zephyrus, but who were sometimes known as Crowfather.
Imagine being so popular that you had two names.
He was the most obvious choice that had ever existed.
Luckily Phil would only awe a little, before smiling at Techno fondly if he ever learnt he got picked as Technos pretending-to-be-mortal god.
In the end, it wasn’t all too bad. Phil was a good pick, even if Techno had been just a regular human needing a reasonable lie.
“I was praying to Ph— I mean Zephyrus.” Good save. “I was praying to Zephyrus. His statue really is something else.”
The last part was to really seal the lie, a safe bet really. Especially with Dreams rant about the rooms, and Phil being such a popular god.
“It really is.” Dream agreed. “I remember the first time I saw it. Almost felt the power and kindness radiating of it. He is truly out of this world”
Techno nodded.
Phil would like Dream. A perfect match of respect for the gods, as well as a willingness to go against the rules if they were unfair.
Techno would have to introduce them sometime.
Dream would like Phil as well. They would probably bond of their shared sense of worry on behalf of Techno.
Or maybe not introduce tham. That was also an option.
“So, I was thinking since I am all done with my duties for the day, how about we go for a walk? I can show you around the city and everything.”
As Techno thought about the offer, a voice came from behind them. “There you are!”
It seemed like Techno wouldn’t get much choice of whether or not to introduce Dream and Phil after all.